Games, performances, stalls and decorations were set up in the atrium. People crowded inside, playing games from all around Asia, from origami to riddles. Behind the scenes, adviser and English teacher Kevin Wang ran around carrying his clipboard, checking that the dancers, artists and musicians were all in line, waiting for him to call them up to the stage. He also checked his spreadsheet, making sure every volunteer was in the right place at the right time.
The steering committee of Asian Pacific American Club (APAC) planned this year’s Lunar New Year Festival to celebrate the different cultures and festivities related to the holiday. Some stalls in the festivals included origami, lantern making, riddles and trivia questions. The festival also featured student performances of K-Pop dancing, lion dances and yo-yos. The festival took place in the school’s atrium and MLK room on Feb. 13, the day before students and staff left for February vacation.
Senior and co-president of APAC Jiayan Guo said that the Lunar New Year Festival boosts visibility for APAC and its members.
“I also feel prideful of my community and all the work that we put in because the success of this event reflects our work,” Guo said. “As someone experiencing the event, the event itself is also just very fun. All the games and getting people all together is very fun, especially when you’re doing it with people you know and people you’re friends with.”
Guo said it is a great opportunity for Asian students to showcase their talents and the high school’s diversity.
“It is a very, very large community event, and almost 20 percent of our student population is Asian,” Guo said. “Being able to come together with that large number of students, and having this big event where students themselves are able to showcase their own talents is super meaningful to our community.”
Junior and co-president of APAC Jeremy Wang said what APAC members could take out of this festival is to take the initiative and do something outside of their comfort zone.
“For example volunteering for Lunar New Year or being a performer,” Jeremy Wang said “When I was in my freshman year, my sister forced me to do the performance [Chinese Yo-yo] , but I thought it was really fun.”
English teacher and APAC Adviser Kevin Wang said the event poses a challenge every year because of the number of students and staff involved. So, Guo said she and other organizers sent sign-up forms to the student body for volunteers and performers before they conducted the auditions. Guo said one of the biggest challenges was balancing academic responsibilities and the necessary tasks in the process.
“This is my last big round of tests that I’m doing [before break] and just finding a way to balance my schoolwork while also putting all the effort I can into making this event successful is a challenge for me,” Guo said “Also, making it a team effort with [the APAC Steering Committee] and being able to just delegate tasks evenly among the group [helps everyone balance the workload].”
Kevin Wang said one of the reasons he finds the festival important is that not many people know about the significance of Lunar New Year. He said celebrating the festival is meaningful because it is a chance for students to spend time on something beyond pursuing academic goals.
“I think that the success is that the day always ends up being really great,” Kevin Wang said. “The challenge, of course, is that I am asking people to sacrifice their time and other activities that they might instead be doing to help out for an event that has no sort of grade or monetary compensation attached to it.”
Jeremy Wang said the sheer number of volunteers coming together to celebrate Asian culture with the larger school community is incredibly meaningful.
“I feel like the Lunar New Year event is one of the reasons why APAC has become one of the biggest and is recognized as one of the biggest clubs at BHS,” Jeremy Wang said. “I take a little pride in that.”
